


Starman

by ExpressAndAdmirable



Series: The Heroes of Light [51]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Dungeons & Dragons - All Media Types, Final Fantasy I
Genre: Backstory, Gen, Healing, Parent-Child Relationship, Slice of Life, Tiefling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-05
Updated: 2018-01-05
Packaged: 2019-02-28 21:14:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13280007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ExpressAndAdmirable/pseuds/ExpressAndAdmirable
Summary: Aviva rescues a four-legged critter.





	Starman

**Author's Note:**

> Response to the prompt "Getting a pet" from a nice anon on tumblr. Another "happy prompt" challenge from Morgan's player.

It was coming from the alley just beyond her busking spot. Faint and small, nearly swallowed by the din of the city at eventide. But it was there.

Securing the clasps of her violin case and scooping up her basket of coin, Lux rose slowly, one ear turned toward the sound. Its pitch was high but worryingly weak, and every trill sounded like it could be the last. With a glance over her shoulder, she ducked into the passage; shop owners be damned, she had to find it, quickly.

The shop’s back courtyard was full of barrels stacked high against the stone walls, and for a moment she lost track of the little squeaks, but behind a hogshead of wine she found her prize: the tiniest ball of mud and fur she had ever seen. The kitten was a few weeks old at best, its eyes still squeezed shut and its ears flush against its head. Its ginger fur was dirty and matted, caked with dried blood from the scratches in its side. It had made no home in the empty crate nearby, nor was there any sign of its mother. It was alone.

As if sensing her presence, the creature mewed again, crawling toward her with blind desperation. There was only one thing to be done. Lux sighed.

“Mama’s gonna kill me.”

* * *

If the Human tending the dairy stall noticed the small bulge in Lux’s vest, or heard the occasional squeak that drifted from it, they made no indication. With a grateful nod and an awkward smile, Lux paid for her milk and departed quickly. She murmured to the kitten as she walked, words of comfort she knew it could not understand; even so, it seemed calmer when she spoke, curling against the warmth of her chest and purring softly. She smiled.

Pausing at the corner of her street, Lux debated the best method of entry into her home. The shop was still open; if she was lucky, her mother might be attending to a customer. She opted for the back entrance through the workshop, slipping down the alley and opening the door as quietly as she could. As expected, her mother’s voice drifted through the shop accompanied by the jovial tones of a patron, serenading her less-than-subtle dash up the stairs to their flat and into her room.

With a sigh of temporary relief, Aviva knelt on the floor next to her bed, pulling an old blanket from beneath and fluffing it into a nest before producing the ball of fur from her shirt. It mewed pitifully as it left its cocoon of warmth, but settled into the blanket with relative ease. Once it seemed content, the Tiefling ventured into the kitchen, returning with a stack of washcloths, a bowl, and a kettle of hot water. She lifted the blanket into her lap and cupped the kitten in her palm.

“Hey sweet pea,” she breathed, dipping her head close to the tiny creature. “I’m gonna get you cleaned up now, okay? It might not be fun, so I’m sorry for that, but I’ll get you dried and fed as soon as I’m done, I promise.”

As it turned out, the kitten did not like bath time one bit. Its cries of protest were so forceful Aviva found herself glancing over her shoulder at the bedroom door, hoping against hope that her mother had not yet closed up shop for the night. With each gentle brush of warm, wet cloth, more mud and blood dissolved from the ginger fur. The scratches on its side were deep, but not infected, and they would heal in time. Finally, as Aviva rubbed the last of the dirt from the kitten’s brow, it opened its blue eyes and stared, blinking, into her gold ones.

Her frown of concentration melted into a grin. “Well hello there. You hungry?”

It peeped in response, unsure how to react to the giant red-skinned face filling its newfound field of vision.

Aviva nodded. “Okay. Let’s just get you dried off–” She wrapped the kitten in another washcloth and massaged the last of the moisture from the little ball. “–There. You stay here, I’ll be right back.” Setting the now-fluffy and thoroughly confused creature back in its nest, she slid the blanket off her lap and made her way back into the kitchen. She paused at the top of the stairs, just long enough to confirm her mother was still working, then warmed a saucer of milk before retreating to her room once again.

Dipping the corner of a clean washcloth into the milk, Aviva watched as her charge attempted to nurse. It purred as it ate, its tiny claws kneading the blanket beneath it. She stroked its back with her fingertips, wondering where it had come from, where its mother had gone. What she was going to tell her own mother if she ever found out.

“V? Did I hear you come in?”

Her mother’s timing was, as usual, exquisite. Hastily sliding the blanket under the bed, Aviva leaned her head close to the floor, peering at the little face. “You be good, okay? If mama knows you’re here, she’ll pitch a fit. So shh!” The kitten blinked. Aviva shrugged and stood. Good enough.

* * *

It took two weeks for Esperance to discover her uninvited house guest – which, to her credit, was quicker than Aviva had expected.

“V.”

The girl froze as she reached the top of the stairs, blinking at her mother’s folded arms and stern expression. “That’s me,” she replied, wary.

Esperance had not yet lit any lamps, and the light from the kitchen fire lengthened and distorted her silhouette, making her tall and terrifying in the way only short mothers can truly master. “I went to put laundry on your bed earlier, and do you know what I found?”

“Not my collection of erotica, I hope.”

Barely the flick of an eyebrow. “I was not aware you’d invited a friend over.”

“Ah.” Aviva chewed her lip, contemplating how best to respond. After a moment, she offered a lopsided grin. “At least he’s cute?”

With an exasperated sigh, Esperance dropped her arms and leaned against the back of the chair behind her. “Aviva, we’ve talked about this. I don’t want any cats in the house.”

“But why not?” Aviva pleaded. “He’s not hurting anything!”

“Not yet he isn’t,” Esperance shot back, “but you know they’ll claw anything they can get in front of them. I can’t have him damaging the inventory.”

“I’ll keep him up here!”

Her mother fixed her with a look. “Baby, you know that’s not how cats work. He’ll go where he pleases and I simply can’t have him in the shop. Besides, he makes my skin itch.”

“Mama, he was injured! I couldn’t just leave him, he wouldn’t have survived!” Real panic had started to creep into Aviva’s voice, her words taking on a vehemence even she had not expected. “He’s still not well yet. He needs time to recover!” She stepped forward almost desperately. “Please, mama, you can’t throw him out!”

Holding up both hands, Esperance paused her daughter’s spiral, holding a beat of silence before speaking. “How about this: he can stay in your room, with the door closed, until he’s healed. After that, he can live in the courtyard. You pay for whatever he eats, and if he damages _any_ of my stock, it will be your responsibility to repair or pay for it. Alright?”

“Yes! Yes, of course!” Setting her schoolbooks and violin case on the floor at her feet, Aviva threw her arms around the shorter woman and squeezed her tightly. Even if Esperance had pre-planned the outcome of the conversation, as she likely had, it was no less of a relief to hear. “He won’t bother you at all, I promise!”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

* * *

Between healing from injuries and weaning from milk, Aviva invented excuses to keep the kitten safely in her room for most of the winter.

As there was rarely anything for him to hunt inside the flat, she purchased a fresh fish for her furry companion at the beginning of each week. There was a part of her that would always bristle at the injustice of having to buy fish when her family once thrived on a fisherman’s trade, but the importance of her cause quelled her frustration somewhat. She skinned and boned the fish herself, a skill she once thought lost to time and lack of practice, and more than once she caught her mother watching her with quiet pride. Despite Esperance’s exasperation at her overdue houseguest, she could not deny the flat seemed somehow brighter for his presence.

Much to Aviva’s chagrin, however, springtime brought with it an end to her increasingly thin excuses. The time was better than ever for the kitten to learn to live outside, Esperance insisted; the weather was warming, he needed to hunt, and he would be happier with more room to explore and claim his territory. While none of her statements were untrue, it was also true that his rambunctious attempts to escape Aviva’s bedroom were threatening to put her stock at risk, and this was something she simply could not abide. Cats are natural predators, she assured her daughter. He would be fine. Trust him.

Carefully setting the bundle of blanket beneath the Goddess’ altar in the corner of the courtyard, Aviva eased onto the ground and folded her legs beneath her. Immediately the kitten rose from the fabric and padded into her lap. He yawned and stretched as he settled, gazing up at her with golden eyes that matched her own; she missed his baby blues, but this colour suited him much better.

“Okay,” she told him, scratching behind his ears, “this is where your bed is now. It can’t be inside anymore, but it’s still part of our house. You can explore as far as you like – you don’t have to come back at all, I guess – but this blanket will always be here. Got it?”

The kitten purred and closed his eyes.

“Hope so.” Aviva sighed, allowing herself to lapse into morose silence as she stroked the kitten’s fur. He had taken to curling into the hollow of her throat as she slept, which had become more than a little uncomfortable as he grew larger but made her feel safe in a way she could not fully describe. Part of her had hoped he would scamper away as soon as she set him down, see another cat to befriend or a mouse to hunt; this parting was far more difficult.

Suddenly, an idea struck her. “Hey sweet pea. I know you need to learn a lot of things that I can’t teach you, and I’m going to have to leave you alone to do it. But, let me teach you this one thing first. Yeah?” Sliding a hand beneath his belly, she eased him into her arms as she stood. “Now pay attention.”

Climbing atop the low crate of leather dye that rested against the shop’s outer wall, Aviva took the kitten in both hands and set him on the gutter above her head. Once he was stable she jumped back onto the cobblestones and, holding her arms high to keep his attention, began to walk around to the front of the shop. He followed her wriggling fingers curiously, and when he had reached the section of gutter beneath her window, she ducked through the shop door and raced up the steps to her room. She flung the shutters wide and he hopped nimbly onto the windowsill, looking very pleased indeed. He understood.

“There. Now you know that, yeah? You can also get to the roof from here, and from there to the neighbouring buildings. You’ll be king of the rooftops someday.” She leaned her elbows on the sill, smiling to herself as the kitten bumped his head against her shoulder. “You’re welcome anytime. I won’t tell if you won’t.” The kitten yawned.

Together, they watched the street below.

**Author's Note:**

> Title song by David Bowie.
> 
> Follow me on Tumblr at @expressandadmirable for a proper table of contents for the Heroes campaign, commissioned character art, text-based roleplay snippets and more!


End file.
